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Why were early Boston plea bargains often used for victimless offenses?
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Plea bargaining
A scene of the trials in Salem Village, Massachusetts Bay Colony, hand-colored engraving.
In early Boston, plea bargains were often utilized for victimless offenses because this nature of the crime meant that prosecutors did not have to consider the concerns of victims when negotiating the terms of a plea.1
As the practice emerged in the 1830s, it allowed for the systematic resolution of cases where public ordinance violations were involved. By avoiding the need to account for victim input, prosecutors could more easily arrange agreementsāsuch as the dismissal of certain charges or the promise of less-severe sentencesāto dispose of these routine cases efficiently.1